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Go for Broke

There has never been another fighting unit like the 442nd Regimental Combat Team in the history of the United States.

Gloriam Deo • Honor and Praise to the Maker of All Things

Private Mikio Hasemoto • Medal of Honor • November 29, 1943 • near Cerasuolo, Italy • Private Mikio Hasemoto’s Citation

Gloriam Deo • Honor and Praise to the Maker of All Things

Private Shizuya Hayashi • Medal of Honor • November 29, 1943 • near Cerasuolo, Italy • Private Shizuya Hayashi’s Citation

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Sergeant Allan Masaharu Ohata • Medal of Honor • November 30, 1943 • near Cerasuolo, Italy • Sergeant Allan Masaharu Ohata’s Citation

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Private Shinyei Nakamine • Medal of Honor • June 2, 1944 • near La Torreto, Italy • Private Shinyei Nakamine’s Citation

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Technical Sergeant Yeiki Kobashigawa • Medal of Honor • June 2, 1944 • near Lanuvio, Italy • Technical Sergeant Yeiki Kobashigawa’s Citation

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Private First Class Kiyoshi K. Muranaga • Medal of Honor • June 26, 1944 • near Suvereto, Italy • Private First Class Kiyoshi K. Muranaga’s Citation

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Private First Class Frank H. Ono • Medal of Honor • July 4, 1944 • near Castellina, Italy • Private First Class Frank H. Ono’s Citation

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Private First Class William Kenzo Nakamura • Medal of Honor • July 4, 1944 • near Castellina, Italy • Private First Class William Kenzo. Nakamura’s Citation

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Private First Class Kaoru Moto • Medal of Honor • July 7, 1944 • near Castellina, Italy • Private First Class Kaoru Moto’s Citation

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Technical Sergeant Ted Takayuki Tanouye • Medal of Honor • July 7, 1944 • near Molino A Ventoabbto, Italy • Technical Sergeant Ted Takayuki Tanouye’s Citation

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Staff Sergeant Kazuo Otani • Medal of Honor • July 15, 1944 • near Pieve di Santa Luce, Italy • Staff Sergeant Kazuo Otani’s Citation

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Private Masato Nakae • Medal of Honor • August 19, 1944 • near Pisa, Italy • Private Masato Nakae’s Citation

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Private Barney Fushimi Hajiro • Medal of Honor • October 19, 22, and 29, 1944 • Bruyeres and Biffontaine, France • Private Barney Fushimi Hajiro’s Citation

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Staff Sergeant Robert Toshio Kuroda • Medal of Honor • October 20, 1944 • near Bruyeres, France • Staff Sergeant Robert Toshio Kuroda’s Citation

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Technician Fifth Grade James K. Okubo • Medal of Honor • November 4, 1944 • in the Foret Domaniale de Champ, near Biffontaine, France • Technician Fifth Grade James K. Okubo’s Citation

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Private George Taro “Joe” Sakato • Medal of Honor • October 29, 1944 • on Hill 617 near Biffontaine, France • Private George Taro “Joe” Sakato’s Citation

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Private First Class Joe M. Nishimoto • Medal of Honor • November 7, 1944 • near La Houssiere, France • Private First Class Joe M. Nishimoto’s Citation

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Private First Class Sadao “Spud” Munemori • Medal of Honor • April 5, 1945 • near Seravezza, Italy • Private First Class Sadao “Spud” Munemori’s Citation

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Technical Sergeant Yukio Okutsu • Medal of Honor • April 7, 1945 • on Mount Belvedere, Italy • Technical Sergeant Yukio Okutsu’s Citation

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Private Joe J. Hayashi • Medal of Honor • April 20 and 22, 1944 • near Tendola, Italy • Private Joe J. Hayashi’s Citation

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Second Lieutenant Daniel Ken “Dan” Inouye • Medal of Honor • April 21, 1945 • near San Terenzo, Italy • Second Lieutenant Daniel Ken “Dan” Inouye’s Citation

The U.S. Army 442nd Regimental Combat Team was an infantry regiment composed of American soldiers of Japanese ancestry that fought primarily in Italy, France, and Germany during the Second World War. About 14,000 Japanese American soldiers served in the 442nd RCT. They earned 18,143 awards. These are some of them : 21 Medals of Honor 52 Distinguished Service Crosses 1 Distinguished Service Medal 560 Silver Stars (plus 28 Oak Leaf Clusters for second awards) 22 Legion of Merit Medals 15 Soldier’s Medals 4,000 Bronze Stars (plus 1,200 Oak Leaf Clusters for second awards) 9,486 Purple Hearts 8 Presidential Unit Citations (5 earned in one month) During the last twenty-four months of the war in Europe, the 442nd Regimental Combat Team became the most highly decorated fighting unit for its size and length of service in the history of the United States. These exceptional soldiers suffered extremely heavy casualties fighting for the United States. By April 1943, the 4,000 Japanese American soldiers who made up the unit had been replaced nearly two and one half times. — Their motto was “Go for Broke” — There has never been another fighting unit like the 442nd Regimental Combat Team in the history of the United States. In 2010, the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, the 100th Infantry Battalion, and Nisei serving in the Military Intelligence Service during World War II were awarded the U.S. Congressional Gold Medal. In 2012, surviving members of the 442nd RCT were made chevaliers of the French Légion d’Honneur for their actions that contributed to the liberation of France during World War II. When I was an advisor in the Vietnamese Navy river forces in 1969 and 1970, the chief of our naval advisory team, Jack Shimizu, was from Hawaii. His ancestors were immigrants from Japan. During World War II, his Japanese relatives were forcibly removed from their homes in California and interned in a relocation camp in another western state, while his father and uncles fought in Europe in the all-Nisei (second generation Japanese) 442nd Regimental Combat Team that became the most decorated military unit in the history of the United States. Most Japanese Americans who fought in World War II were Nisei, second generation children born in the United States to Japanese immigrant parents. Shortly after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, Japanese American men were initially categorized as 4C (enemy aliens) and were not subject to the draft. On February 19, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 that resulted in the forced relocation of more than 110,000 Japanese American citizens, two thirds of them born in the USA, from their homes in California, Oregon, and Washington. These Japanese American citizens were interned in guarded, barbed wire relocation camps in Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, and other states until March 20, 1946. In Hawaii after the Pearl Harbor attack on December 7, 1941, the military imposed martial law, with curfews and blackouts. Since a large portion of the Hawaiian population was of Japanese ancestry (150,000 out of 400,000 people in 1937), internment was not practical, and was strongly opposed by the Hawaiian business community, which was heavily dependent on Japanese American workers, unlike businesses on the mainland. Internment of Japanese Americans and Japanese immigrants in Hawaii would have been a catastrophic disaster for the Hawaiian economy. In addition to the men of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, more than 1,300 Japanese American soldiers of the 298th and 299th Infantry Regiments of the Hawaii National Guard were reorganized into a “Hawaiian Provisional Battalion” that went to fight in Europe. On June 15, 1942, the “Hawaiian Provisional Battalion” was redesignated the 100th Infantry Battalion (Separate) — the “One Puka Puka” — and, like the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, they became one of America’s most highly decorated and most respected fighting units of World War II. There is always far more to people than what you see on the outside. I tell you truly, if I should ever be called again to serve in harm’s way, I would want to be with guys like those of the 442nd, men like Chief Jack Shimizu, our advisory team chief in Vietnam. When I think of Pearl Harbor, my heart hurts. When I think of the 442nd, my heart hurts all the more. When I think of Chief Jack Shimizu, I know for sure — his uncles were the kind of guys who just couldn’t help but “Go For Broke.”